Hong Kong Summer Holiday 2014 (Part 1)

Hello everyone! It’s been 3 weeks since my last post and I’m feeling so guilty for not updating you of what’s been happening. I have a lot of stories to tell you, both happy and sad ones. But I don’t want to come back blogging on a sad note so I’ve decided to tell you about the happiest experience on my list — our first family trip abroad last week to celebrate Noa’s 3rd birthday and my husband’s.

Why Hong Kong?

Of all the many wonderful places here and abroad, why did we choose Hong Kong for our first international family vacation? Firstly, it’s because a lot of people said that this is the best country to visit for first-timers abroad. Secondly, it is relatively cheap — airfare and accommodation wise. Thirdly, Hong Kong has the nearest Disneyland to Manila.

The Preps

This trip was a year in the making. We started planning it September 2013, a few weeks before our wedding anniversary. We decided not to hold a birthday party for Noa this year and just allot the budget to something memorable for our family.

We were “lucky” to book and buy some promo seats from Cebu Pacific Air for only Php6,500 ($145 or HKD 1,085) for the 3 of us, round trip to Hong Kong. Upon checking the regular rates at their website a week before leaving, those tickets could have cost us about Php32,000! Just a power saving tip if you are planning to cut down cost on your airfare, hunting down those promo seats or “pisofare“ could really save you money.

Also, a week before our flight, I purchased some additional baggage allowance of 30 kilos for about Php1,200.

Since my husband is away, I was mostly left in charge to plan. We did not get or hire a travel agent, and yes, this is a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) trip. If you are planning to visit Hong Kong soon, I hope you’d be able to benefit from what I’ll be sharing from our HK Holiday.

To give you an idea of how OC kind of planner I am, I even made a spreadsheet of our itinerary. I also included the possible cost that we might incur when visiting a particular place and its value in peso and Hong Kong dollars (HKD).

I encourage you to plan ahead and research a lot about the country you will be visiting. In this case, I spent a lot of time at the Discover Hong Kong website, and it has helped me a lot in preparing for our family vacation. In case you want a copy of this to help you, you can send me an email. 🙂

Where to stay in Hong Kong?

This is the next most important thing when you are planning a family vacation aside from the air travel arrangement. There are a lot of wonderful hotels, inns, and transient houses in Hong Kong but please be aware that spaces in Hong Kong is a luxury. Unless you are willing to pay a good price for a hotel, then by all means, book a spacious one.

You can scout for some billeting bargains at the Agoda website, plus the fact that you can read on really credible reviews from other travelers who have already stayed at the hotel that you are eyeing on. Another website that you might find extra useful for reviews is Trip Advisor if you want to counter-check on the reviews that you’ve read on Agoda.

If you are now asking where exactly did we stay in Hong Kong for this trip, we chose Homy Inn in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. Tsim Sha Tsui is like our version of Makati or Ortigas area since most of the big names in the hotel industry like Shangri-la and Intercon are located here. It is very accessible to bus, taxi and MTR (Hong Kong’s train station), which is only a 5-minute walk.

I learned about them from Agoda and Trip Advisor has convinced me to book them. We did not stay in a fancy hotel since we knew that this trip won’t be a staycation for our family. My husband and I decided to book a clean, safe, accessible and decent room where we could sleep, take a bath and store our baggage.

Homy Inn though relatively small is big on customer service. The receptionists were really friendly and helpful and our room were always spotless. We booked a double bed for approximately Php2,000/night. Booking Homy Inn was one of the best decisions we’ve made for this travel. My husband agreed that if we were given a chance to go back to HK, we would surely stay at Homy Inn again.

I traveled with my husband and Noa and we fitted in this bunk comfortably. If you are travelling with more family members, I suggest booking their family room, double on double (2 double size beds). To know more about Homy Inn, please visit their official website, http://homyinn.com.hk. Thanks to everyone at Homy Inn for letting us feel a that we have a real home in Hong Kong for almost a week of our stay.

Another important thing when planning on traveling abroad, you should have at least a credit or debit card. In my case, I used my BPI E-Prepaid debit card when I booked Homy Inn. They require a reservation fee when booking for your room. I suggest booking them way before your stay since they are always fully booked.

On my next post, I will be sharing with you that one exciting day at the NAIA Terminal 3 — what to do, bring, how much to pay, etc., and our first sight of Hong Kong from the top, so please be sure to keep reading Moomy Musings. This post is just the tip of an iceberg. ‘Til then! ♥

Glaiza is a Filipino Home & Lifestyle Blogger, Proud Mom & Military Wife. She believes that a happy and informed family life is both a choice and responsibility. Motherhood is a blessing, and best traveled by sharing and inspiring others. ♥

20 Comments

Mimi Martin

May 14, 2016

You’re blog is very informative. We’re visiting hk this Oct, and like you, im also in charge of our itinerary. It would be a great help if you can share to me your spreadsheet itinerary. Thanks.

jaima alde

April 15, 2016

hi mommy glaiza, your blog is really informative and would really help me in planning our family HK trip this Aug 2016. Would you mind sharing me your Itinerary, this would be a great help for a first time traveler like us.

Hi Glaiza! Thank you so much for your wonderful blogs about travelling HK. Would you mid if you share your detailec itinerary of going there as i find it very helpful especially along my 3 kids and my mom who is a senior citizen. Hope you could send it at vida.bacani@gmail.com

Jessa

February 26, 2015

Hi Ms Glaiza! Your blog is really informative and this would really help me a lot in planning of our trip in hk. Would you mind if I ask a copy of your itinerary? Thank you btw 🙂 here’s my email jessajacinto05@yahoo.com

[…] husband’s homecoming. He’s been here since July 2014, and if you remember, we flew to Hong Kong for Noa’s 3rd Birthday. Shortly after coming back from HK, he needed to attend his schooling duty somewhere in the north […]

MommyLiza

September 29, 2014

hi mommy glaiza i was amazed with your blog how you prepare your trip for hongkong , were going to hkg this nov i want to ask sana a copy of your spreadsheet itenerary its my daughter 7th bday thank you un advance and God Bless.

[…] since I was the one who planned for this trip since the beginning as I’ve mentioned in Hong Kong Summer Holiday (Part 1) post. It is our first time to be in a real foreign soil with our toddler in […]

Oh my gosh, I thought I was too overboard when I make spreadsheets too of our travel itineraries and spending months comparing, arranging, and computing. Glad to know I’m not alone! Haha! 🙂 We haven’t been to HK and would love to visit it too, I’m looking forward to your HK adventures!